Giveaway: Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway

Rachel and Drew Snow might be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths. As the adult daughters of an American father and a Japanese mail order bride, they grew up in southern California, caught between Killian, their demanding quick-tempered father, and Hikari, their stoic deferential mother. Rachel, now thirty-eight, was a typical rebellious sixteen-year-old when her father kicked her out of the house for youthful indiscretions. Now she’s married to a good man and has two strong-willed kids of her own who test her limits every day. Her talented younger sister Drew followed her passion for music, but her career is stalled along with her love life. The sisters’ relationship has been strained for years, but an odd request from their Alzheimer stricken mother launches them on a surprising journey that heals and reunites them in ways they never imagined possible.

Hikari’s lucid moments are becoming more infrequent, but she manages to ask Rachel to retrieve a large book from her sewing room, a book Rachel has never seen. It’s an album of sorts containing old, unlabeled photos and a reproduction of an ancient text. Neither she nor Drew can translate it and when a local student steps in to help, the mystery only deepens. Why give it to them now? Who are the Japanese people in the faded photos? Why did their mother reveal so little of herself and her past life but save this samurai story for decades? What did she hope her daughters would gain from it?

Alternating chapters on the sisters’ turbulent lives with the compelling twelfth-century tale of real-life female samurai Tomoe Gozen, Sisters of Heart and Snow reveals what happens when modern sisters discover that courage isn’t only for bold warrior women of ancient times, but for them as well.

I’ve read a fair bit about this novel over the last year or so and have had it on my to-read list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention again and giving me an opportunity to win and finally experience this worthwhile read! Cheers to all, Kara S